Jon
Brittain

Playwright and writer for radio and television

Jon Brittain is a playwright, television writer and director. 

His critically acclaimed play Rotterdam premiered at Theatre503 in 2015 before transferring to Trafalgar Studios where it earned him a nomination for the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2016. It later transferred to 59E59 in New York and the Arts Theatre in the West End. Rotterdam won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre in 2017.

Other work includes the cult hit show Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho and its sequel Margaret Thatcher Queen of Game Shows, and the plays A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) which won a Fringe First Award in 2017.

He directed both of John Kearns's Fosters Award winning shows Sight Gags for Perverts and Shtick and Tom Allen's shows Both Worlds and Indeed. 

He is currently a staff writer on The Crown for Netflix and working on several new scripts for the BBC as well as the musical How to Stop Being Fat and Start Being Happy with composer Harry Blake. 

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CV

Theatre

Writer 

Rotterdam
Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement at an Affiliate Theatre 2017
Producer Hartshorn Hook
Director Donnacadh O’Briain
Starring
  • Alice McCarthy
  • Anna Martine
    •

    Full length play about gender identity and relationships.

    Theatre 503 / 59E59 / Trafalgar Studios / The Arts Theatre / Skylight Theatre, LA
    A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad)
    Fringe First Award 2017
    Director Alex Mitchell
    Starring
  • Madeleine MacMahon
  • Sophie Clay
  • Ed Yelland
    •

    Sally is a happy person, but she’s also got an illness – one that makes her feel like she isn’t the person she wants to be.

    Score by Matthew Floyd Jones

    New Diorama Theatre/Pleasance Courtyard
    I Love You But You Make Me Sick

    A one man play about bulimia.

    Theatre 503
    I Think I Am a Good Dog
    Starring
  • Nick Kay
    •
    A bittersweet story of loss told from the perspective of the family dog
    Latitude Festival
    My Imaginary Friend Patrick Stewart
    Director Jon Brittain & Ant Cule
    Starring
  • Sam Donnelly
  • Paul Joseph
  • Fiona Skinner
  • Claire Timmins
    •
    Short play presented as part of Shhhh.... by the 503Five
    Theatre 503
    Everybody's Doing It
    Director Alex Brown
    Starring
  • Lydia Larson
  • Matt Milne
  • Joseph Radcliffe
  • Iris Roberts
    •
    Short play, part of The Miniaturists 33
    Arcola Theatre
    Fireworks
    Director Lisa Cagnacci
    Short play, part of This Year it Will be Different, a collection of New Year's plays
    Theatre 503
    Richard's Rampage Event
    Producer The Kevin Spacey Foundation
    Specially edited version of Richard III, used as part of workshops run by the Kevin Spacey Foundation
    Worldwide Tour
    The Demetrius Project
    Producer The Faction Theatre Company
    Part of a team of writers for The Faction Theatre Company's new adaptation of Schiller's Demetrius
    New Diorama Theatre
    This Will Never Be a Good Bookshop
    Producer Box of Tricks Theatre
    Short play, part of Box of Tricks' Farewell to London show
    Yard Theatre
    To Boldly Go
    Producer Misshapen Theatre
    Short play as part of Blast Off, an evening of sci-fi drama
    Theatre 503
    The Sexual Awakening of Peter Mayo
    Producer Lucy Jackson
    Director Natasha Nixon
    Starring
  • Samuel Donnelly
  • Helen Duff
  • Michael Lyle
    •

    Comedy about the world of internet dating

    Pleasance Theatre, Edinburgh Festival
    The Spies in Room 502
    Producer Tara Wilkinson
    Director Nathalie Ibu
    Starring
  • Nicholas Lawson
  • Joshua McCord
  • Helen Millar
  • Amy Morgan
    •
    Comedy play in reaction to the Old Vic's A Flea in His Ear
    Old Vic, Time Warner Ignition
    Phillipa and Will Are Now In a Relationship
    Producer Lucy Jackson
    Director Jonathan Brittain & Ant Cule
    Starring
  • Jack Swain
  • Alice White
    •

    Comedy following a relationship played out on Facebook

    Upstairs at Three and Ten, Brighton Fringe Festival
    The Aim of the Game
    Short play, part of Fifteen, The Space's fifteenth anniversary celebrations
    The Space
    The Happiest Day of Your Life
    Director Lotte Wakeham
    Starring
  • Nick Banks
  • Lucy Benson-Brown
  • Anna Maguire
    •
    Short play written for the TS Eliot US/UK Exchange
    The Vineyard Theatre, New York
    Everybody's Doing It
    Play for teenagers
    RADA
    Il Parlamento de Ruzante
    Translation and adaptation
    National Theatre Studio
    The Aim of the Game
    Director Ant Cule
    Starring
  • Nicholas Banks
  • Vivienne Bell
  • Theo Chester
  • Paul Heath
    •

    Play created as part of the Old Vic, New Voices 24 Hour Plays

    Old Vic
    The Small Hours
    Rehearsed reading
    Soho Theatre
    The Wake
    Judges Award For Comedy - National Student Drama Festival
    Director Ant Cule
    Starring
  • Ashley Booth
  • One man play about family secrets spilling out at a wake
    NSDF, Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh. New Diorama, London.
    Margaret Thatcher Queen of Game Shows
    Producer Off the Kerb Productions

    Comedy theatre show

    Writer & Director 

    What Would Spock Do?
    Producer James Seabright

    Comedy about love, Star Trek, and learning to accept who you are

    Gilded Balloon - EdFringe
    Margaret Thatcher Queen Of Soho
    Starring
  • Matthew Tedford
    •
    A satirical drag musical that tells the story of Maggie's adventures in Soho, where a wrong-turn leads to her becoming an overnight cabaret star
    Theatre 503, Edinburgh Fringe Festival

    Director 

    John Kearns: Shtick
    Foster's Comedy Award 2014
    Writer John Kearns
    Edinburgh Fringe 2014, Soho Theatre
    John Kearns: Sight Gags for Perverts
    Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer 2013
    Writer John Kearns
    Soho Theatre

    Assistant Director 

    Potted Sherlock
    Director Hanna Berrigan
    Edinburgh Fringe 2014
    Outings
    Director David Grindley

    The world's first show based on coming-out stories

    Edinburgh Fringe 2014, St James Theatre

    Television

    Writer 

    The Crown
    Left Bank Pictures for Netflix
    Staff Writer
    Virgins
    Producer Rachelle Constant

    In development at BBC3.

    BBC 3
    The Amazing World of Gumball: Series 2
    Starring
  • Kwesi Boakye
  • Rupert Degas
  • Kyla Rae Kowalewski
  • Dan Russell
    •
    Children's animated show about a family of blue cats and pink rabbits
    Turner for Cartoon Network
    TV Drama Writers Programme

    Creator & Writer 

    Meanwhile Ten Years Ago
    1 x 30'
    Co-created and written with Suzi Ruffell
    ITV Studios
    In devlopment
    Last Train Home
    Pilot for 6 x 30'
    Comedy pilot developed as part of the Channel 4 Screenwriting Course
    In development

    Film

    Writer 

    The Spies in Room 502
    Director Joanna Coates
    Short film adapted from Jon's Play for the Old Vic 

    Radio

    Writer 

    The Now Show

    Broadcaster BBC Radio 4

    News

    Curtis Brown Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019
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    Jon Brittain wins Fringe First Award for 'A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad)'
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    Edinburgh Fringe Festival programme announced
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